Steele Watching

SPECIAL: Interview with Deborah Ellis and Season One Wrap Up

We're celebrating all things SEASON ONE! First we talk about our favorite (and not so favorite) parts of the first 22 episodes of Remington Steele and then we share our interview with camera assistant, Deborah Ellis. Her father, Don Weiss, was a prolific television director who directed two of our favorite episodes of the whole season! Her husband also worked on the show and she shares some of their wonderful memories of working with Pierce Brosnan and the gang. Finally, we each pick our favorite episode of the entire season. At least we think we can narrow it down to just one... Find out on this very special episode of "Steele Watching." Special thanks to Deborah Ellis for sharing her time and stories with us! She left the television industry in 2000 to pursue a career in finance and just published her first book "You and Your Money"! You can check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-You-Achieving-Financial/dp/1947937189/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=you+and+your+money+deborah+ellis&qid=1601675670&sr=8-2 Thank you again Deb!

Steele in Circulation

SEASON 1, Episode 22 ORIGINALLY AIRED: April 12, 1983 EPISODE SYNOPSIS: On the way to a Saturday client meeting at the agency, Remington stops despondent bank employee Alfred Hollis from jumping off a bridge to his death. Alfred is distraught because an innocent plan to help his girlfriend has gone terribly wrong. He thought he could “borrow” 2.3 million dollars for the weekend - it was scheduled to be shredded anyway - flash it to Angelica’s  creditors and return it to the bank but Monday morning. The day before he had pulled off the heist and stashed the money in his car, but when his car is stolen from the bank parking lot he fears prison is his next stop. As the clock ticks down through the weekend, things go from bad to worse when Angelica disappears, Alfred is shot at and then runs off, and our detectives struggle to unravel the mystery. Just who is responsible for a scheme that was launched two months earlier when Alfred is unexpectedly promoted and Angelica first enters his life? It turns out it is a bank security guard, unhappy with his government retirement, who hatches a plan to blackmail Angelica into helping him steal the money and finger Alfred for the theft.

Sting of Steele

SEASON 1, Episode 21 ORIGINALLY AIRED: April 5, 1983 EPISODE SYNOPSIS: When London conman, Daniel Chalmers, cheats a crooked casino boss, the shady Mr. Hoskins follows him to Los Angeles to seek revenge. In a delightful turn that hints at Remington Steele’s own suspicious past, it turns out Chalmers was his mentor in the hustling game and the two team up to double cross Hoskins. Meanwhile, Laura is hired by Hoskins to track down Chalmers. And to make matters worse, Laura’s overbearing mother shows up unexpectedly to try to recover from a heartbreak. Laura, Murphy and even Laura’s mother are folded into the sting as Steele and Chalmers pull off an elaborate sports betting scam to take 50 thousand dollars from Hoskins and run him out of town.

Steele's Gold

SEASON 1, Episode 20 ORIGINALLY AIRED: March 22, 1983 EPISODE SYNOPSIS: Hired to guard valuable California artifacts at a lavish costume party, Remington, Laura and Murphy witness the murder of one-time gold prospector Dan Curtain. Although nothing was stolen from the collection, it is soon discovered that the historical journal of fellow prospector Arnold Dobbs is not only missing but contains directions to a long sought after treasure. On the trail of the journal (and the doubloons) our trio, along with a cast of diverse suspects all claiming to be the rightful owners of the treasure, head into the San Jacinto Mountains where they fall under the spell of gold fever - even Murphy turns into a crazed detective out to claim the gold as his. As several assumed identities, devious motivations, and a treasured movie reference are revealed, we finally learn that high-tech professional gold hunter Chance McCormick has the most to gain from killing the two prospectors in his quest to find the missing doubloons and save his business.

Vintage Steele

SEASON 1, Episode 19 ORIGINALLY AIRED: March 16, 1983 EPISODE SYNOPSIS: When Laura’s ex-boyfriend and bank investor, Wilson Jefferies, finds a dead body in a vat of Claude Vandemeer Cabernet, he panics. Fearful that a murder will ruin his deal, he begs Laura and Mr. Steele for help but the there’s one big problem - the body is missing. The body reappears, disappears and reappears again before Laura and Remington discover the dead man was the Abbott of Saint Costello’s Monastery. But who would want him dead? Could it be Claude’s meddling mother? The jealous winemaker next door Werner Shuman or a mysterious monk who’s taken a vow of silence? Laura and Remington finally deduce it is Claude Vandemeer himself who was stealing the Abbotts wine to pass off as his own.